QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.0mw

5 km S of San Juan Bautista, CA

· 8.2 km deep · released about 17 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Benito County 46 kmSanta Cruz County 48 kmSanta Clara County 49 kmMonterey County 65 kmMerced County 85 kmStanislaus County 97 kmAlameda County 100 kmSan Mateo County 100 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 4.0 (mw)
Depth
8.2 km below the surface
Felt
417 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest
San Benito County, 46 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 417 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 17 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 9,800× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 440× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 310× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.0 about 17 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 36× more

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 36.7990, -121.5437. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Benito County, CA 46 km (28 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Santa Cruz County, CA 48 km (30 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 49 km (30 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Monterey County, CA 65 km (41 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Merced County, CA 85 km (53 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Merced County
Stanislaus County, CA 97 km (61 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

52 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.8 13 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  2. 2.8 4 km N of Corralitos, CA
  3. 2.6 3 km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
  4. 1.6 14 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  5. 1.7 5 km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
  6. 1.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  7. 1.8 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  8. 2.5 9 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
  9. 1.7 6 km NNW of Hollister, CA
  10. 2.5 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  11. 1.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  12. 1.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  13. 1.8 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA
  14. 3.3 16 km S of Tres Pinos, CA
  15. 1.6 5 km SW of Ridgemark, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.7 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 10 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.